Monday, February 27, 2012

Lemon Cake with Black Tea Frosting

This past Saturday, I spent most of the morning baking & photographing this cake. Hours spent in the kitchen, singing along with Daisy May, measuring out flour, standing over bubbling pots, peeking through oven windows. It’s been too long since I’d done that. It felt good.

You see, life has been a little more stressful than usual lately. Mostly, it’s the normal every day sort of stress, with a few real humdingers (trips to the hospital (everyone is fine!), etc) thrown in. Whenever things get like this, I feel creatively drained & unmotivated. I don’t want to pick up the camera, get in the kitchen or blog. Then, when I do, it’s like a revelation. “Oh THIS. This is where I’m happy.”. I feel so silly for having spent so much time away.

Let me tell you about this revelatory cake. Oh, my friends, it is good. It’s base is one of my favorite cake recipes by Dorie Greenspan, made extra lemony by a glaze poured over while it’s still warm. The frosting is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. I was trying to figure out how to make tea frosting happen using the leaves (I’ve done that, and while it tastes good, the texture can be a bit off-putting). Seven minute style frosting seemed the perfect solution - I made the simple syrup with tea instead of water, and added just a little bit of super strong tea straight into the frosting. I had no idea if it would work, but it did! It came out the perfect consistency and flavor - you can definitely tell it’s tea, but it’s not overwhelming. This is easily one of my favorite things I've ever made.

Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-x-2-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.

Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.

Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.

Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the tough – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean.

Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

While still warm, poke each layer all over with a fork, and pour over lemon glaze (recipe follows). When cool, frost cake with black tea frosting & garnish with candied lemon slices.

Beat egg whites in a mixing bowl until foamy & thick, they should mound, but not peak.

In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cream of tartar, black tea & salt. Bring to a boil. Boil for 3-4 minutes, or until a candy thermometer reads 242 degrees F and all sugar is dissolved.
Begin beating the egg whites again and slowly pour in boiling sugar syrup in a slow steam. Continue to beat on high for 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form.

Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. Using a mandoline or sharp knife, cut lemon into 12 paper-thin slices; discard seeds and ends of rind.

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a rolling boil. Remove from heat, and add lemon slices; stir until softened, about 1 minute. Drain, and immediately plunge slices into ice-water bath. Drain.

Bring sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium skillet, swirling to dissolve sugar. When liquid is clear and bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low. Add lemon slices, arranging them in one layer with tongs. Simmer (do not let boil) until rinds are translucent, about 1 hour.

Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment. Let stand until ready to serve.

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I've recently discovered Dorie (not as well known here in Europe) and I'm totally in love with her recipes, so simple but amazing. Recently discovered your blog and I'm in love with that too! Love this cake, I have a birthday coming up - I know what cake I'll be making for it!

I can't wait to try this recipe! Black tea icing sounds so wonderful. I have a question: Did you use 9"x2" pans for the cake in your photos? Your layers look smaller in diameter and thicker as well, which I would prefer. Thanks so much for sharing! *K

Even though I royally suck at baking! I want to make this. We are serious tea drinkers and I love the idea to have anything tea flavored. I am always blown away when I come to your blog and your so GOOD at desserts. Its such a tricky science and I dont think I have the pastry genes. Lovely shots as usual :)

yum! i love love lemon cakes and this looks so gorgeous, hannah! I know what you mean about talking yourself out of the cooking/blogging routine. Seems like a burden til you do it, and realize you were wrong ;)

I came across this recipe from Pinterest as well. Being a Georgian, I grew up drinking tea and lemon. Never would I have dreamed up such a wonderful creation like this. Most definitely I will be trying my hand at this as soon as all the sweets are gone in my home. Thank you so much for sharing this awesome recipe.

I made this cake last night for my roommate's birthday, except I made it into cupcakes, half a slice of candied lemon on each. It turned out absolutely delicious. The frosting is so light, silky and perfect! Next time i'll make my tea stronger since that flavor fell out a bit for me. The tang from the glaze went perfectly with the sweetness o the cake. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!

The cake sounds and looks incredible - love the tea-infused frosting, I bet it was divine with the lemon. Just so you know, when I saw you blogged I squealed and put on a pot of tea so I could cozy up. :-)

I am so excited to find the recipe for this cake and to bookmark this blog! I found an image that was uncredited of this cake recently and so wanted to read all about it. Luckily, I found it again just now through Tastespotting, correctly sourced. Looking forward to making this tonight! It might just be the cake I make for my son's first birthday. Thank you!

Your blog is beautiful! I stumbled onto it via facebook. Your writing, presentation, photography is sublime. I love it that you have been homeschooled...I too have homeschooled my youngest daughter. You are very talented, and will go far in life. Keep up the great work!

Loved this recipe! Have not tried the frosting, but I did try out the cake recipe and it is just delicious :) I ended up halving the recipe and putting it in a loaf pan instead (in the oven for about 35-40 minutes). Made for a lovely cake with a subtle lemon flavour :) Will be trying the frosting next time, but just wanted to compliment you on the cake ;) will be making that one often!

I tried this tonight. I substituted milk + little vinegar for buttermilk as I usually do and layers were very low. Made again with just milk and layers rose better (used 8 inch pans). Kept looking at yours and couldn't figure out why mine were so thin.. Just read above and saw you used 6 inch pans. Never made 7 min frosting before. Much easier than anticipated!! Tea flavor is great! Bringing to work for a lemon lover's birthday tomorrow. Hope it's a hit!

I am going to make this cake for Easter. I see that the frosting recipes says to "use immediately." I was going to bake this on a Saturday and bring to an afternoon lunch on Sunday. Once the cake is frosted, is the frosting fine for a day (not refrigerated)or is this a "frost immediately and eat the cake immediately" kind of dessert? If you can let me know, I'd love that!

I am totally going to try and make this cake. It looks delicious, especially the frosting. What do you think about putting poppyseeds in the cake? This is a perfect springtime cake. Thanks for this recipe Hannah!

I made this cake for easter and it was AMAZING and delicious. There were no leftovers. This cake was a perfect blend of lemon and tea. I had to fight my kids off of the frosting bowl until I was done frosting the cake.

This does look lovely. Wish you would let us pin your recipes - that's how I'm keeping track of the 'to try' recipes these days. It's also a great way to drive traffic to your blog and if you are worried about your images not being attributed, a watermark is super simple to create. Hope to see you pinned soon!

I forget how I got it, but you can get a "Pin It" button to put right on your browser's bookmark bar. That's how I usually pin stuff. If your browser has an app store, you might be able to find it there.

The cake was amazing! Thank you for that. However, my frosting did not go as planned, the eggs I used flattened as I poored more of the tea-sugar-sirup over them... and nothing I did could make it better. Do you have any suggestions? (maybe it's because of the dutch ingredients I used? (as I am from Holland))

Wonderful recipe and such attractive photos! I saw this recipe shared by a friend on Pinterest, and I immediately dropped everything to try it. I've just pulled the cakes out of the oven (used 9x2 pans) and the cake looks and feels awfully dense. I wonder what I did wrong -- possibly my wet ingredients were too cold? I'm sure it will still taste fabulous though. Can't wait to taste that black tea frosting!

I made this a couple weeks ago and it turned out beautifully! Tomorrow I am going to turn it into cupcakes for an early Mother's Day dinner with my mother in law. She's british and I know she'll appreciate how thoughtful the flavor pairing is. Thank you!

I just made this and my frosting didn't come out right. It's watery. I beat it forever and ever on the last step and it just wouldn't thicken. I can't find much on it, but what I did find is that using cold eggs or overbeating the whites initially can cause that. My eggs definitely were cold, straight out of the fridge and I think the syrup was also a bit too hot (I don't have a candy thermometer so I had to do the cold water test). Anyway, just wondering your thoughts. The flavor of the frosting was great, just too watery.

I'm with Carebear above, my icing was way too runny as well. Was there as step missing? Was the sugar/tea mixture suppose to cool before adding the egg whites. I ended up with a sort of runny marshmellow type icing, instead of a more stiff, light icing. Should I have continued to beat it beyond the 7 and then 2 minutes? The cake was really good but the icing really disappointed.

Just made this beautiful cake. I usually do an aweful job with baking, and have recently decided I need to practice more. I sifted the flour which helped make the cake light and fluffy. The frosting turned out perfect. I followed the recipe to an exact science. If I make this again, I will try it with Earl Grey tea instead of plain black tea, and maybe a hint of orange zest as well!

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I Made the cake for my boyfriends b. Day. He is a big fan of sweetsand tea so it was just perfect. The cakes didn't rise as much as expected but still came out nice and steady. Though each step is not especially complicated putting all parts together is quite a project. At the end it came up very pretty and impressive but extremely sweet at the same time. Thank you for the inspiration anyway. ♥

Just made this cake to compliment a Pakistani dinner party, and it is DELICIOUS! Although it takes a little while to put all the steps together, it was a straightforward and accessible recipe. The overall look and taste of the cake is divine! Thanks for such an amazing recipe!!

I made this cake, but as per someone else's comment above, my icing was simply soup! It never fluffed up or anything. Are there any tips for making it fluffy besides whipping it for a long time? Should I use some confectioner's sugar? The cake was delicious, I want to try it again!

I made this just 2 days ago and it's gone! I made for my birthday cake. It was wonderful. The frosting was so light but reminded me of melted marshmallow, the cake was moist and fluffy. It was a great balance of lemon and tea flavor. Mmmm! I'll be making it again. I may have used a different sugar than you but the lemon sugar glaze to pour ontop the cake remained granulated, next time I'll try to melt the sugar so I don't have sugar crunch. Still, it was a wonderful cake to celebrate my 35th birthday.

Thank you so much for posting this recipe!!! I made this cake last night and my husband and I loved it! The frosting was delicious, but I'm not sure if it was the right consistency. It wasn't soupy, but it was almost like a foamy marshmallow fluff. Is that right? Or is it supposed to be thicker/stiffer? I plan to serve it for a party and want to make sure I'm doing it right. Thanks!

Wow your cake is gorgeous!! I read the recipe in Dories cookbook, did you skip the "good 2 minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well areated?" I'm worried the cake will be tough if I beat it with the dry ingredients that long. Thanks

Oh my lord. I went to a friends wedding at the weekend and they decided to have a Cornish baking competition for the puddings. As the bride loves Earl Grey tea I decided to make this cake the night before the wedding and I won't lie - I had kittens making it. I have never baked 'american' before and to say I was confused was an understatement! But this recipe only went and won me the ruddy Bake off! 1st prize and all! Thank you so much. The competition was even judged by a lady who regularly judges cake competitions for the Womens Institute in Malvern so I feel so pleased. Will be knocking this up again soon in less stressful circumstances. Best wishes.

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just made this cake with my roommate and it is delicious!!! this is the first time cake flour has created the perfect crumble for me! not too crazy about the tea frosting though, especially because we had a lot left over....

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